Tag: Good Samaritan

Long-Term Benefit of Human Service

Appreciation motivates a “hunger and thirst” for righteousness that extends the benefits of human service through more people and time. We join this year’s celebration of thanksgiving and use the opportunity to discuss Christ’s teaching on appreciation as a motivator of positive human interaction.

Thanksgiving celebration at Plymouth USA wikipedia.org

Thanksgiving is celebrated in different parts of the world at various times. In several places, the celebration is associated with harvest and appreciation for the “fruits of the land.” Also in several places, thanksgiving is celebrated near the end of the calendar year in appreciation of all that was good during the year. For example, in several countries of North America, thanksgiving is celebrated late in the calendar year, usually a few weeks before Christmas; thus beginning a season of giving, receiving, and appreciation that lasts through the remainder of the year. People and institutions exchange gifts and greetings to appreciate each other for being who or what they are and for events of the year that brought their paths to cross.

We join in this year’s celebrations: to express our appreciation to all that interacted with our program one way or the other during the year. We thank God for you and appreciate this opportunity to learn his word and share our understanding through Banking Blessings Ministry. We celebrate this year’s interactions and use the opportunity of the celebration to discuss the value of appreciation in motivating positive human interaction.

Go in peace freed from sufferingSweet Publishing freebibleimages.org

CHRIST’S TEACHING ON APPRECIATION We examine Christ’s teaching on appreciation based on his interactions with two people he healed from persistent illness. The interactions suggest he wanted to emphasize appreciation as important to the healing, as if the healing was incomplete without it. The interactions occurred in regard to a woman he healed of long-term bleeding and a man that was the only one of ten that returned to thank him for healing them of leprosy. In both cases, he appeared to be telling them and us that their appreciation enabled them to receive full benefits of the healing. However, we know based on the biblical accounts that the physical healing was complete in each case before the recipient stepped forward to show appreciation. Therefore, his interactions with them lead us to understand that each recipient needed more than the physical healing to receive full benefit of his/her interaction with Jesus in the healing incident.

HUNGER FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS His interactions with the two lead us to understand that every human service offers two potential benefits to the recipient:

Surface-value or short-term benefit that arises from the service addressing an immediate need, such as physical healing.

Long-term benefit that arises because the recipient’s appreciation motivates him/her to be good, not only to the provider but also to other people.

If the recipient is good to another person as a result, the other also is motivated to be good to yet others. Thus, an act of goodness whereby a person provides a service to alleviate another person’s need could benefit several more people because the recipient’s appreciation motivates him/her to be good to others that are, in turn, motivated to be good to yet others. Thus, the long-term benefit of human service lies in the potential to motivate an expanding community of people to “hunger and thirst for righteousness” [Matthew 5:6] and earn blessing as Jesus described in the Sermon on the Mount. This long-term benefit is more important than the short-term benefit. Christ emphasized its value through personal interactions with the two healing recipients.

A Christ Teaching on Love, Compassion, and Neighbor

Christ used the parable of the Good Samaritan to teach us about love, compassion, and neighbor. As we discussed in several previous bible studies such as at This_Link, God creates every person to be his provider assistant. He assigns responsibilities to each of us as his provider assistant through a call to compassion.

LumoProject.com FreeBibleImages.org

Christ uses the parable of the Good Samaritan to describe potential circumstances of a call to compassion and what is expected of the provider assistant. Also, he uses the parable to underscore our freedom of choice to respond to a call to compassion by providing the needed service or to disobey by declining the call. Of course, there are rewards for obedience and punishment for disobedience that we will discuss in a future bible study.

In this bible study, we focus on Christ’s teaching through the parable of the Good Samaritan. We learn the meaning of a call to compassion, what is expected of the chosen provider assistant, and who is a neighbor. We also learn about the manifestation of love through compassion. In fact, one could say that Christ defined love through the parable. At the very least, he defined compassion as an effective manifestation of love. We discuss the meaning of compassion and its relationship with love. A call to compassion is an opportunity to perform our function (fulfill the purpose of our creation) as a channel for God’s compassion. Although he can do things for people in a supernatural way, he often prefers to use a natural approach by channeling his compassion through a human provider assistant. The parable of the Good Samaritan illustrates typical interactions between the service receiver and the provider assistant in a call to compassion.

Sin—Opposite of Living in the Image of God
A Christ Teaching on Righteousness

Christ uses parables to describe separation of people into two categories based on living in the image of God: the righteous and the wicked.

Final Judgment wikipedia.org

The righteous are people that live in the image of God, whereby each person is a channel for God’s compassion and conveyor of his image. As a channel for God’s compassion (i.e., God’s provider assistant), a person recognizes needs placed in their path, commits to providing for the need, and perseveres until they succeed: much like the Samaritan in the parable of the Good Samaritan. Being a conveyor of God’s image means providing reasonable opportunity for people to feel the hand of God through your interactions with them. In contrast, the category of the wicked consists of people that decline God’s call to compassion by denying services placed in their path: much like the chief priest and the Levite in the parable of the Good Samaritan. Christ describes the categorization through the parables of the weeds [Matthew 13:24–29 and 37–43], the net [Matthew 13:47–50] and the sheep and the goats [Matthew 25:31–46].

ETERNAL LIFE FOR THE RIGHTEOUS He explained through the parables that the righteous will inherit eternal life in the kingdom of God. The wicked, in contrast, will be condemned to eternal punishment in a fiery furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Also, he explained through the parable of the weeds that God offers every person a persistent opportunity to repent from a life of wickedness to a life of righteousness. The opportunity persists until death or final judgment, whichever comes first [Matthew 13:40]. We examine the three parables in this study and use information contained in them and other related teachings of Christ to discuss the meaning of righteousness.

Objectives: Banking Blessings Ministry

What is Banking Blessings Ministry and what is it set out to achieve? We discussed this on Saturday, April 11, 2015 as a bonus presentation during our first seminar, a power-packed discussion and teaching on The Power of Strategic Alliance. Video and audio proceedings of the seminar are available through our website.

God created every person with a blessings package, from which a person earns blessing by providing service to benefit other persons. When a need exists, God places someone in position to provide for the need. The chosen person may decline (like the priest or Levite in the Parable of the Good Samaritan) or obey by providing a fee or free service to address the need. If the service is for a fee, your reward is determined by commercial relationships. Additionally, you may earn blessing dependent on the service receiver’s feelings and faith. If the service is provided free and satisfies Matthew 6:1-4, then you will earn blessing according to Matthew 25:34-40.

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Upcoming Bible Studies

A King for the PeopleFebruary 1, 2019 at 8:30 pm – 9:30 pm+1 2108728759We study interactions between Samuel and people of Israel and with God when Israel demanded and received approval for a king. Part of study series on The King and the People: Understanding Christian basis for government.

Making King Saul Part 1of2February 15, 2019 at 8:30 pm – 9:30 pm+1 2108728759God selects Saul to be king of Israel, informs Samuel the prophet but not Saul. We learn every position to rule a people is a call from God. Part of study series on The King and the People: Understanding Christian basis for government. 1 Samuel 9 & 10.

Making King Saul Part 2of2March 1, 2019 at 8:30 pm – 9:30 pm+1 2108728759God calls a person to be a ruler. The people elect the person that God called. Illustrated through Paul's election-by-lot to be king of Israel. Study series on The King and the People: Understanding Christian basis for government. 1 Samuel 10 & 11